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The Bombshell Inside Trump's $1.3 Billion Pardon MarketThe Pardon for Pay President
In December 2020, federal prosecutors unsealed evidence of a presidential pardon bribery scheme during Trump's first term. Court documents revealed a "bribery conspiracy" involving "substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon." No charges were filed. Four years later, Trump returned to office and issued clemency to more than 1,600 individuals in his first 10 months. For context, Obama issued 1,927 grants over eight years. Biden issued fewer than 200 over four years. Trump's first term produced 237 over four years. Trump's current pace exceeds all modern presidents combined. These pardons have eliminated $1.3 billion in court-ordered restitution and fines owed to crime victims. Documented payments to Trump, his family businesses, and his allies preceded many of them. Trevor Milton founded Nikola, an electric truck company. In October 2022, a jury convicted him of securities fraud after prosecutors proved he deceived investors with a viral video showing a prototype truck appearing to drive under its own power. The truck was actually rolling downhill after being towed to the top. The jury deliberated for hours after a two-month trial. Federal prosecutors sought $695.2 million in restitution from Milton, including $680 million to Nikola shareholders and $15.2 million to wire fraud victim Peter Hicks. Many investors lost retirement savings during the COVID-19 pandemic and waited for repayment. In October 2024, Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to Trump's reelection campaign. Milton personally contributed $920,000 to the Trump 47 Committee and $284,000 to the RNC. The combined total represented one of the largest individual contributions to Trump that cycle. Five months later, on March 27, 2025, Trump personally called Milton to inform him of his pardon. Trump granted it the next day. The pardon eliminated both Milton's four-year prison sentence and the $695.2 million restitution obligation. Investors will never be repaid. The return on Milton's "investment" to Trump was 37,400 percent. This is the America that republicans are desperate to make permanent. Trump stated at a press conference that Milton's only crime was supporting "a gentleman named Donald Trump for president." The timing established a price. Donation in October. Pardon in March. The transaction was complete. Paul Walczak ran nursing homes in Florida. Between 2013 and 2016, he withheld approximately $7.4 million from employees' paychecks that should have gone to federal tax payments. He also failed to pay $3.5 million in employer tax obligations. The total tax loss to the federal government exceeded $10 million. Walczak used the stolen funds to purchase a yacht and finance a lavish lifestyle. Low-wage healthcare workers whose taxes were stolen faced IRS penalties and credit damage. A federal judge sentenced Walczak to 18 months in prison and ordered him to pay $4.4 million in restitution. His mother is Elizabeth Fago, a major Republican fundraiser. In early April 2025, Fago attended a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser where tickets cost $1 million per person. Twelve days after Walczak's sentencing, on April 23, Trump pardoned him before he served a single day. The pardon eliminated the restitution. Those healthcare workers will never be repaid. House Judiciary Committee Democrats calculated that the $1 million Fago paid for Mar-a-Lago access was "exceptionally well-invested." Changpeng Zhao founded Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. In November 2023, he pleaded guilty to money laundering violations. Federal prosecutors proved Binance allowed criminals to use the platform, including terrorists from Hamas, drug traffickers, and child sex abusers. Binance paid a $4.3 billion settlement. Zhao served four months in prison and paid a $50 million fine. The Existentialist Republic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and supporting our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. During Trump's 2024 campaign, Binance became the infrastructure provider for World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture owned by Trump's family that generated $57 million for him that year. Binance wrote the code for Trump's family stablecoin, establishing a direct business relationship between Zhao's company and Trump's financial interests while Trump was running for president. After Trump won the election, Binance paid $450,000 per month to lobbying firms seeking Zhao's pardon while an Abu Dhabi state-backed firm agreed to invest $2 billion using Trump's stablecoin in a deal facilitated by Binance. On October 23, 2025, Trump pardoned Zhao. When Scott Pelley asked Trump about Zhao on 60 Minutes, Trump claimed: "I don't know who he is. I don't think I ever met him." The pardon removed the criminal conviction from a man whose company was paying Trump's family and lobbying for his release simultaneously. P. Scott Jenkins served as sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, for more than a decade. In December 2024, a jury convicted him on 12 counts including conspiracy, honest services fraud, and bribery. Prosecutors proved Jenkins accepted more than $75,000 in bribes to appoint Northern Virginia businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs. He sold law enforcement badges and credentials to wealthy men who had no law enforcement training, underwent no background checks, and provided no services to the county. Three of the men involved, including two undercover FBI agents, had already pleaded guilty before Jenkins went to trial. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Jenkins pressured local officials to restore gun rights to a convicted felon who had paid him bribes. A federal judge sentenced Jenkins to 10 years in prison in March 2025. Prosecutors stated Jenkins "repeatedly violated the public's trust by exploiting his official powers for personal gain" and that after being caught, he "sought to manipulate the judicial process and to evade responsibility for his crimes by lying to the Court and the jury." Jenkins was scheduled to report to federal prison on May 27, 2025. On May 26, the day before, Trump pardoned him. Ed Martin, Trump's pardon attorney, posted on social media: "No MAGA left behind." The phrase made the selection criteria explicit. Political loyalty determines who receives a pardon. Criminals everywhere now have an incentive program to do the bidding of MAGA. Officer Michael Fanone served 20 years with the DC Metropolitan Police. On January 6, 2021, rioters dragged him into the mob outside the Capitol. They beat him unconscious, tased him repeatedly at the base of his skull, and caused a heart attack. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and PTSD severe enough to force his retirement. Daniel Rodriguez pleaded guilty to driving a stun gun into Fanone's neck multiple times. A federal judge sentenced Rodriguez to 12 years in prison. Trump pardoned Rodriguez along with more than 1,500 other January 6 participants. Fanone is now filing protective orders against Rodriguez and other attackers who walked free.
"Six individuals who assaulted me as I did my job on January 6 will now walk free," Fanone stated. "My family, my children and myself are less safe today because of Donald Trump and his supporters."
Judge Howell ordered the Justice Department to act or provide more details by November 2020. All names in the court filing were redacted. A DOJ official stated: "No government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation disclosed in this filing." No charges have ever been publicly filed. The investigation appears to have been closed despite extensive documented evidence of a bribery scheme. A January 2021 New York Times investigation provides additional documentation of the pardon market. Reporters interviewed over 36 lobbyists and lawyers who described a systematic operation where Trump allies collected "tens of thousands to millions of dollars" to lobby for pardons. The prices were known. The access was for sale. Fred Daibes provides the clearest documentation. A jury convicted Daibes of bribing Senator Bob Menendez with gold bars. Daibes paid $1 million to Javelin Advisors, a lobbying firm led by Keith Schiller. Schiller served as Trump's director of Oval Office operations and worked as Trump Organization security director for 18 years. The $1 million bought access to Trump for pardon lobbying. NBC News reported that multiple people had knowledge of $5 million offers to lobbying firms to get cases directly to Trump. Margaret Love served as U.S. Pardon Attorney under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. She told the Times: "This kind of off-books influence peddling, special-privilege system denies consideration to the hundreds of ordinary people who have obediently lined up as required by Justice Department rules, and is a basic violation of the longstanding effort to make this process at least look fair." The Supreme Court removed the final barrier to pardon bribery in 2024. The Court's decision in Trump v. United States established broad presidential immunity for "official acts." |
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